Seven fashion stalwarts show us one thing in their closet that has lived through generations

Few things are as deeply embedded in Indian culture as the style heirloom. The saris we inherit from our mother s, the watches our grandfathers hand-down, the jewellery in our closet that might’ve belonged to an ancestor a century ago—creating legacy through clothing and jewellery runs in our veins, and is the antidote to a consumerist fashion economy that shows no signs of dying out. A fact each of these seven fashion doyens will attest to while taking us through the pieces they will repair and repurpose with love for the rest of time.

TJ Gill | Model

One look at model TJ Gill’s Instagram profile—bursting forth with energy, glitter, and pop hues—and the word ‘current’ springs to mind. But Gill is far more sartorially sentimental than his online presence will betray. “I own a lot of pieces that have been in the family for generations; things that once belonged to my grandfather, father, and mother. I have taken those pieces and preserved them, caring for them over the years. Gill has fond memories of his grandmother’s silver jewellery and cutlery, from when she got married in the 50s, that he still uses and wears to this day. “They must be 70-years-old now; but they’re still so beautiful. We even have kitchen utensils that my grandmother used to cook in back then; my mother sometimes cooks my father’s favourite khichdi in it just like my grandmother once would,” he fondly recalls.

The piece of clothing he feels most attached to is “a 12-year-old waistcoat that was originally a part of a salwar suit my mom once bought from Dilli Haat (in New Delhi). It’s a stunning piece—hand-painted and cropped.” It was pure obsession at first sight.“I saw the jacket and fell in love with it. I’ve paired it with everything—from sheer tops to plain black vests—and everytime I wear it, I get such amazing compliments. Everyone loves it as much as I do!” It isn’t just aesthetic, though, it’s also sentimental. “Whenever I wear it, I feel a sense of pride. Wearing a piece from my mum’s closet reminds me of playing dress-up as a child; it brings back memories, and my mother is happy that I’ve given her clothing a new life!”

Isha Bhansali | Celebrity fashion stylist

“Can you believe this is even older than me?” stylist Isha Bhansali exclaims when she shows us the piece she’s guarded with her life—a pair of her mother’s Dior sunglasses from the '70s. She mentions her mother was a diehard Dior fan. “This is one of her three Dior shades, and I was so excited when she gave them to me.” Bhansali admiringly mentions how carefully her mother has preserved her jewellery and sunglasses.“She’s also done her best to preserve her bags, but not many have battled the Mumbai humidity through the decades. There are a few that have survived, but I find myself wearing my mother’s old Dior sunglasses most often.”

Bhansali is confident she would’ve found a way to work these sunglasses into her wardrobe; whether she had chosen to become a stylist or not.“I’m the youngest of three children, and I lost my dad at a very early age. He bought these for my mother over a decade before I was born; and it’s so his taste—retro, oversized. These glasses are so linked to my memory of him—and of my mother and how cool she was, styling them with bell-bottoms, and later with saris. I often look at pictures of how she styled it to compare!”What her mother paired with elegant saris and kurtas, Bhansali loves to team up with a pair of classic blue workman’s jeans, or a sharp suit.“It’s a stunning accessory; but it’s also special to me because it’s lived longer than me, and it has seen my mother through two different style avatars. And, of course, it’s a piece of both my parent’s history with each other.”

Shyama Shetty | Co-founder, HUEMN

Designer Shyma Shetty has long been a bastion of ‘cool’, with her brand’s particular synthesis of shock value and wearability. One would associate Shetty with oversize tees, treated denim, and gloved crop tops before you’d think of her having a sari so beloved that it has stood the test of time for over seven decades. But Shetty’s careful conservation of her late grandmother’s Kanjeevaram sari—“easily 70+years old”—is one of Shetty’s prized closet doubloons. “Growing up in a classic Mangalorean household, I was deeply influenced by the ideas behind preservation; we would carefully maintain, mend, and repurpose. Clothing and jewellery were always bought with the intention to be heirlooms—to be worn mindfully and kept meticulously, ready for the next generation.”

Shetty believes in the revival of older pieces, not merely because of the golden glow of nostalgia,but as a continuation of an artisanal narrative.“I am lucky; I own many beautiful pieces that have been passed down from my grandmother. The preservation of these keepsakes is not only a love letter to the skilled artisans who crafted them, but also a tangible link to my family’s history, a connection to our cultural roots.”

The idea of injecting the classic with an infusion of the fresh has always been Shetty’s MO; and her styling the bold-bordered silk with a HUEMN gloved top, leather slacks, pearl jewellery, and Ferragamo heels is a reminder that the old is never dated; simply waiting to be envisioned anew.“I intend to pass it on to my daughter. There is a sense of continuity that comes with preserving these heirlooms.They are a bridge between generations, and a living history in fabric form.”

Rahul Khanna | Designer, Rohit Gandhi + Rahul Khanna

When you’re part of Indian couture legacy the way designer Rahul Khanna—one half of iconic pair of Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna—happens to be, a cognisance of fashion history seems inevitable. And Khanna does not disappoint, choosing a piece from his colour-coded closet (that he keeps organised with an app) with a backstory for the books. “This vintage Kashmiri shawl was once my grandfather’s, given to my father at his wedding. My father then gave it to my mother on their honeymoon at Dal Lake,” Khanna smiles. If that wasn’t storied enough, the shawl gained a new level of meaning when Khanna wore it at a nascent 20 years of age for the first time, for his sister’s wedding. “I lost my father young, and it was my mother’s request that I wear it. ‘You’re the dad today,’ she had said,” Khanna tells us, his voice soft with memory.

The shawl has been preserved in delicate muslin, and has been painstakingly repaired and revamped with a new border that adds Khanna’s own narrative to the chapters of this piece. It is taken out every Diwali without fail, to pair in a refreshing new way.“I wear it with pathani suits, bandhgalas, sherwanis...I travel with it often as well, pairing it with t-shirts and jeans, taking it to fashion weeks and garnering compliments from across the world. Once it starts to fade, I will most likely frame it and turn it into a wall hanging. It makes me feel closer to both my parents. I lost my mother during Covid and the shawl is a memory that ties me to them both in such a deep way.”

Masoom Minawala | Luxury fashion creator

Like every luxury influencer who has made it to the big time, the visual Masoom Minawala conjures is often one of an envelope-pushing ensemble at Milan Fashion Week, or a custom- made designer gown sweeping the red carpet at Cannes. Not exactly images you’d associate with a sense of preservation. But when the camera flashes ebb and real life comes into the viewfinder, Minawala’s wardrobe mixes the sparkly and new with warm and nostalgic. “My mum has this beautiful sari that I had been eyeing for quite some time; this light, airy classic Marwari with traditional gota-patti work on the borders. It’s absolutely stunning. I wore it for my Haldi ceremony,” she recalls fondly. To her, it was more than inheriting a piece from her mother’s closet; it was a reminder of her sense of self. “To me, this sari symbolises who I am. It highlights my roots and is a marker of my culture. I keep it properly, tucked away in my closet, and it is incredibly special to me.”

Preservation is a mother tongue for Minawala, an idea that goes beyond fashion. “One of the most recent examples is about two years ago, when my parents moved to a new house in Mumbai, they made sure to restore a decades-old fireplace to bring it into the new one. This sense of preservation has always been a part of my upbringing.” The sari she holds so dear was given a similar reboot to make it better suited for the occasion. “I had the sari border redone, and created a matching blouse with gota-patti flowers. This gave the sari a refreshed look, but still maintained its traditional charm.” It reminds her of the moment—and her mother—every time she puts it on. “Wearing this piece is the most special way to carry my mother’s love with me,” she smiles.

Shivan Bhatia| Co-founder & Head Designer, Shivan & Narresh

A marker of the two designers’ enduring friendship is that designer Shivan Bhatia’s choice for the preserved piece he chooses to talk about...is from Narresh Kukreja’s closet! “This exquisite diamond earring belonged to Narresh’s mother, tucked away in the depths of her locker for years. She hadn’t worn it in ages, but I’d always had my eye on it.” It was only when she finally took it out for a spin after a decade that Bhatia braved asking her for it.“I seized the opportunity, and since then, I’ve worn it more often than she ever did.” Bhatia doesn’t have piercings, and so some ingenuity was called for. I transformed the earrings into clusters of brooches that do beautifully on a black canvas; like a blazer lapel.” He also derives joy from pulling a piece out of dusty hibernation in a locker somewhere and bringing it back to life.“The piece has a legacy. The fact that I wear it more frequently than the original owner only adds to its narrative.”

Bhatia believes that Indians simply have preservation in their blood.“We have a penchant for preserving things with great care. My grandmother and father were both exceptionally organised, and stored and categorised things by colour. They passed that down to me, and the inclination to salvage things remains deeply ingrained in me.”

Narresh Kukreja| Co-founder & Creative Director, Shivan & Narresh

Designer Narresh Kukreja’s grandfather passed on many heirlooms to him; but also passed on a philosophy that he lives by.“He always used to say ‘respect your clothes, and they will garner respect for you’. This shaped my approach not only to my own wardrobe, but also to my work in design. In college, for instance, I proudly wore garments from my mother’s college wardrobe, making them my own. Whether it’s clothing I’ve purchased or inherited from loved ones, each piece carries with it a sense of respect, a reciprocal relationship.”

The angarkha 2.0 he revived is his father’s.“Last year,I was scouring my dad’s closet for something interesting to wear for a friend’s mehfil.” Enter the chikan angarkha, that spoke to Kukreja, despite being a few sizes too large.“But that’s the beauty of Indian garments—their adaptability.With the pull of a few doris and drawstrings, I tailored it to fit me perfectly.” He accessorised it with a necklace from his mother’s collection—a preservation double whammy— and the outfit quickly became the talk of the gathering.”

To him, what’s interesting is how the same piece created such different looks for him and his father.“I can’t recall him ever wearing it the way I did. He preferred a simpler style, wearing it as a loose kurta with pyjamas. My approach—cinching it around my waist to give it glamour, accessorising with jewellery—is much more my aesthetic.” It’s the perfect confluence for Kukreja—his own style with a sense of his family history. “It feels like an integral part of my identity, representing my roots; but also who I am today.”

Photographs by Sanjay Tomar

This piece originally appeared in the October-November print edition of Harper's Bazaar India.

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